My LO is a chipper little guy but is stuck on a pretty consistent 3 hour cycle at 14.5 weeks old. He is exclusively breastfed, and when hubby does help by giving him a bottle of expressed breast milk to give me a breather after being up all night with him (every 3 hours to the minute almost), LO will only take 2-3 ounces. I'm wondering if his tummy is just too tiny to drink more or if there's a way to get him to drink more then he would sleep longer stretches at night.
A little about my little man: Born at 39 weeks, weighing 7lbs, 7oz. Took to breastfeeding right away. Now weighs about 11.5 lbs.
A typical day at our house looks something like this:
8am - E
8:15/20 - A
9:05 - S
11 - E
11:20 - A
12:05 - S
1:45 - E
2:00 - A
3:00 - S
4:45 - E
5:00 - A
5:45 - S
6:45 - E
7:00 - A
7:45 - S
10:45 - E
10:55 - S
1:45am - E
2:05am - S
5:00am - E
5:10/15 - S
This is a rough outline of "most" of our days. Sometimes he is an hour earlier or later on those times from what I've recorded but the schedule is basically the same in length of minutes between each feed. He is extremely touchy and so for his bedtime routine, both during the day and in the evening we do this routine: Give him a few min of quiet on the changing table, swaddle tightly, hold him upright in the chair and pat him very gently to work out any burps. Once he calms (he usually fusses for 3-5 min) and we feel his body relax, we lay him down and he likes it best on his tummy. He drifts off to sleep usually in 5-10 min but does not like being patted during this time, and shushing only makes him angry. He's kinda funny.
During the night, if he wakes before 3 hours have passed, I wait and let him fuss (he is still in our room in a cradle because the crib is in big sister's room and we haven't made that transition just yet - big sis is almost 3) and he usually goes back down after a few minutes. However, when the 3 hour mark comes around he is pretty upset if I try and see if he'll go back to sleep and doesn't calm down until I start to nurse him. He nurses well and usually at least 10 min on both sides, which makes me infer that he's actually hungry. The hard part is that by doing this cycle through the day and all night long I am completely drained and having a hard time kicking a sinus infection I've had now for 3 weeks.
I read in the book that I should try and increase his eating during the day to help him tank up more at night but LO gets almost frustrated if I try to feed him too much in the evening and doesn't seem to be able to drink more than 3 oz when we've given him a bottle instead of the breast to see about how much he's getting. He's actually gotten so upset when I've offered him the breast after a couple hours in the evening and then it's been super tough to get him to calm back down.
During naps he consistently wakes between 45 min - 1 hour in and fusses for anywhere from 3-20 minutes to go back to sleep for the remainder of the nap. In the night though he nurses, and falls right back to sleep without burping.
Any ideas or help would be awesome.
Side note: He rolled over last night for the first time from his tummy to his back - all while being swaddled! I know he is working on some developmental milestones like that, but that would mean sleep is all the more important, right?